The complexities involved in the production of a masterpiece such as a Patek Philippe timepiece has made it one of the most in-demand collector’s watches in Qatar.

Patek Philippe Geneve vice-president of sales Yves Cavadini told Gulf Times that their watches have a strong following in Qatar and in other GCC areas.

“Our sales in Qatar are doing well and Patek Philippe brand awareness is quite high in Qatar; we have a tremendous demand most specifically for one particular model – the Nautilus Collection, which is really doing crazy in Qatar, for both gents and ladies,” Cavadini said.

It’s been more than a decade since Patek Philippe was established in Qatar. “Every year our sales are improving,” Cavadini revealed.

While Patek Philippe has been with the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition since it was launched in 2003, Cavadini marveled at the opulence of this year’s exhibition, which is ongoing at the Qatar National Convention Centre from February 25 to March 2.

“Throughout the Middle East, there is a huge demand for Patek Philippe for several reasons: the first one is that customers know that we are producing certainly one of the finest watches in the world; some of them are very difficult to get because of small production and long waiting list. For some customers, they have to wait for one to two years,” Cavadini explained.

He added that because production is small, “every year we can only produce a few hundred pieces, depending on the model even if the demand [for it] is really high.”

Patek Philippe complicated watches category is divided into two sub-collections, namely “complications” and “grand complications,” which represent “the ambition of Count Norbert de Patek, who founded the manufacture in 1839: to craft the world’s finest watches.”

Grand complications are exceptional “because they include intricate mechanisms such as the tourbillon, which compensates variations of the centre of gravity of balance springs in vertical positions, and the repeater function, which tells the time acoustically by striking gongs.”

On the other hand, “useful” complications “offer add-on functions that are user-friendly.” “Useful” complications also include different types of chronographs from classic manually wound chronographs with column wheels to innovative self-winding annual calendar chronographs with monocounter.

Aside from the chronograph, “many are endowed with moon-phase display or a power-reserve indication and belong to a group of watches that illustrate the subtle line between ‘useful’ complications and grand complications.”

Aside from the Nautilus, other collections in demand in Qatar include “the Caliber 89, comprising of 33 complications; the Gondolo; the legendary Calatrava introduced in 1932; the Golden Ellipse, which debuted in 1968; the dynamic Aquanaut collection; and the exclusive Twenty-4 for ladies.”